Phillies season ticket sales up 50 percent as they ride World Series wave

John Weber can still remember the feeling of driving to the ballpark more than a decade ago knowing that the Phillies were sold-out that night.

For 257 straight games, they sold every ticket at Citizens Bank Park during a streak that started in the summer of 2009 and spanned four seasons. The ballpark was happening and the tickets -- thanks to a team that made five straight postseason trips -- practically sold themselves.

“It was the greatest thing,” said Weber, the team’s senior vice president of ticket operations and projects.

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But the magic from that sell-out streak snapped in 2012 just as the team took a downturn. Ten years later, Citizens Bank Park is starting to feel like a destination again.

The team’s season-ticket base spiked this offseason to roughly 15,250, a 50% increase from the base of roughly 10,000 they finished last season with.

The home opener on April 6 is sold out, the next night is approaching a full house, and the third home-game of the season should have a strong crowd when the Phillies receive their National League championship rings.

They’re not expecting to sell out 257 straight games but tickets are moving again after the Phils averaged just 28,108 fans last season at their nearly 43,000-seat park.

Their May and June schedule is favorable for sales -- weekends against teams like the Red Sox and Mets -- and early weekday first pitches -- 6:40 p.m. this season -- should generate better crowds. Ticket prices have slightly increased but Weber said it’s the team’s first hike since 2012.

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For the Phillies, the best promotion is a winning team as they ride the momentum from last October’s trip to the World Series.

“We made the postseason in 2007, we won the World Series in 2008, then we had a great team in 2009. It just takes time to get to that level of demand,” Weber said of the team’s sell-out streak that started two weeks before they traded for Cliff Lee in July of 2009. “It was hard to get tickets in ‘08 and we sold over 3 million. We sold over 3 million in ‘07. So we have to get back to those numbers.”

The Phillies drew 450,000 fewer fans last season than they did in 2019, the last season their attendance was not limited by COVID-19 protocols. They sold out all eight postseason games in South Philly but played three home games a month earlier in front of fewer than 20,000 fans.

The ballpark that was so lively in October was more than half-empty in September as the Phils finished the regular season with the 16th-best attendance in the majors. That should change this season thanks to the momentum from last year’s World Series trip and an offseason splurge highlighted by the arrival of $300 million shortstop Trea Turner. The Phillies have a product that seems to be an easy sell.

“The excitement down here in Clearwater, just seeing people, you can just tell a different vibe,” Weber said from the team’s spring training home. “You can tell it from the fans. You can tell it from the players. You can just tell that they’re excited and people are ready to get back to Citizens Bank Park and back in that electric atmosphere.”

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Weber credits the increase in season-ticket sales to the excitement of last fall and the energy brought by the front office’s offseason moves. It also helps that the team’s long-time guarantee finally feels tangible again.

The Phils have always promised season-ticket holders -- full and partial -- access to postseason tickets but that promise wasn’t pushing many fans to buy packages during a 10-year playoff drought. That changed last October when playoff tickets were hard to find and prices spiked on the secondary market. Now tickets are moving again and it’s starting to feel like it used to in South Philly.

“The atmosphere in the ballpark this past year, maybe it was because we hadn’t been there in a while, but everyone was just happy,” Weber said. “During that sell-out streak, I don’t know. It was great but I think this last year was a notch above during the postseason.”

“But we still have tickets to sell. We have plenty of tickets available.”